It has heretofore been proposed to cool and quench hot coke in rotary drums. The prior art systems have involved the use of inclined rotary drums in which it is not practicable for the speed of movement of the coke through the drums to be positively controlled and in which it is not possible for the coke moving through the drums to be thoroughly agitated and mixed so as to receive direct impingement of water sprays on most of the coke surface to quench the coke as rapidly as possible. In addition to the lack of control of the speed of the coke in an inclined drum and the lack of the control of agitation and mixing of the coke during movement through the inclined drum, inclined drums must be of considerable length in order to obtain sufficient dispersal of the coke over an area needed for quenching. More water must be used over a larger area and the coke tends to have excessive moisture content. Long rotating drums are expensive to build and they occupy a greater amount of valuable plant space.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a rotating drum system for quenching and cooling coke in which movement of the coke is positively controlled through the drum in direct relationship to the speed of the drum, thereby permitting the use of a drum of shorter length.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a rotating drum system for quenching and cooling coke in which the coke has a desired degree of agitation and mixing as it passes through the drum.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide means in a rotating drum for an efficient agitation of the coke which will not cause objectionable attrition of the coke during its passage through the drum.
It ia a further object of the present invention to provide a rotating drum system for quenching and cooling coke which includes efficient means for introducing the coke into the drum and withdrawing coke from the drum.